WestBridge Capital has exited Vista Retail Support, following its acquisition by LDC for £29.4 million.

WestBridge Capital has exited Vista Retail Support, following its acquisition by LDC for £29.4 million.

The deal represents the third time the company has been acquired by private equity buyers, with WestBridge having bought the business from Finance Wales in May 2014 for £12.3m.

Vista, which generated sales of £17m in its last financial year, is a market leading UK field engineering specialist providing time sensitive IT support and maintenance services to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.

In the last three years, Westbridge has supported Vista’s executive team in successfully growing the business further, while revenues and profitability have shown significant increases over their period of ownership.

The deal achieves a 4x multiple return and 80% IRR for Westbridge investors over their three-year investment period.

Founding Partners Sandy Smart and James Wakefield represent WestBridge on this investment.

Sandy Smart, said:

"It has been a pleasure to work with the Vista management team who have achieved much in a relatively short space of time, firmly consolidating Vista at the forefront of technical maintenance services to the retail sector.

“For WestBridge, this successful deal follows on from similarly rewarding exits in Aero Stanrew and Kallidus software, and reaffirms our expertise in the technology and engineering SME sectors. We wish Richard Cottrell and his team every success in the future as they continue to implement their growth strategy.”

James Wakefield, added:

“Our maiden fund has supported eight companies. This is the third exit and we are pleased to have achieved an average 4x money multiple across all three investments and each returned no less than 3.5x to our investors. We are in a position to return close to 100% of our investors’ drawn capital.”

Richard Cottrell, CEO of Vista, commented:

"We have enjoyed working with the team at WestBridge Capital. They have proven to be a supportive partner with a real understanding of the challenges which face fast growing SME businesses.”

Financial advisors to WestBridge were PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP London based sector team, while Capital Law partner, Tom Kelleher, provided legal advice.